Sunday, January 10, 2016

All About Theory, Atoms, and Big Bang

So, it’s always been said here and in other groups about the difference between a theory and a scientific theory – is it that impossible to learn huh?

Ok! Ok… here we go again!

What is a theory?

According to the Oxford dictionary, a theory is a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something, esp. one based on general principles independent of the thing to be explained.

Is that so hard to understand?

A theory is not a hunch or a “haka-haka.” It is not a mere speculation. In fact, based on the Oxford definition, a theory is already an explanation and we’re still not even talking about a scientific theory. According to the late Stephen Jay Gould, “Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts.”

A scientific theory is a structure suggested by scientific laws and is devised to explain them in a scientifically rational manner, while a scientific law is a statement of fact, deduced from observation, to the effect that a particular natural or scientific phenomenon always occurs if certain conditions are present. So, a scientific law is not an explanation, but a description – that’s why we say Newton’s Law of Planetary Motion – it describes the phenomenon. Scientific theories on the other hand are explanations – Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is an explanation on how living things in this planet evolved. The Germ Theory explains that certain diseases are caused by the invasion of the body by microorganisms.

According to the atomic theory of matter, atoms are the smallest unit into which matter can be divided without the release of electrically charged particles. It also is the smallest unit of matter that has the characteristic properties of a chemical element.

To simplify, matter is made up of atoms.

The ancient Greeks believed that everything are made up of atoms. Let’s thank Democritus for that hypothesis… well, he was wrong actually – atoms can be divided into smaller flavors – quarks, etc, etc. Anyway, basic physics dictates that solid have their atoms more compact compare to liquid and gas. We also have the idea that elements have different atomic weights – but to say atoms became humans? *facepalm!

All living things (including humans) are made up of different elements and these elements are made up of atom. Life is carbon-based. That is why organic chemistry are mostly all about carbon - formic acid (HCO2H), ethyl alcohol (C2H5OH), and oxalic acid (C2H2O4) are carbon compounds.

But atoms becoming human?

Ninety-nine percent of the mass both of the universe and of life is made of six atoms: hydrogen (H), helium (He), carbon (C), nitrogen (N), oxygen (O), and neon (Ne). Yes, we are star stuff. Condition on our ancient Earth suggest that these elements and compounds reacted to form long polymers of amino acids, which have the ability to synthesize other compounds (metabolism) and self-replication (which leads to reproduction) which later became organic molecules. These ancient organic molecules are the basis for the formation of primitive cells…

… and the rest is evolutionary history.

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Big Bang

Let me again say this…

The Big Bang is NOT AN EXPLOSION (Geez! Where do dorks get such an idea?)

The Big Bang is an expansion. It was proposed by Russian mathematician Aleksandr Friedmann and Belgian astronomer Fr. Georges Lemaître in the 1920s and was refined by Russian-born American physicist George Gamow and colleagues in the 1940s.

The idea of the Big Bang was conceived when Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity correctly describes the gravitational interaction of all matter and since the cosmological principle, states that an observer's view of the universe depends neither on the direction in which he looks nor on his location. This principle applies only to the large-scale properties of the universe, but it does imply that the universe has no edge, so that the big-bang origin occurred not at a particular point in space but rather throughout space at the same time.

According to the big-bang model, the universe expanded rapidly from a highly compressed primordial state, which resulted in a significant decrease in density and temperature. Soon afterward, the dominance of matter over antimatter (as observed today) may have been established by processes that also predict proton decay. During this stage many types of elementary particles may have been present. After a few seconds, the universe cooled enough to allow the formation of certain nuclei. The theory predicts that definite amounts of hydrogen, helium, and lithium were produced. Their abundances agree with what is observed today. About one million years later the universe was sufficiently cool for atoms to form. The radiation that also filled the universe was then free to travel through space. This remnant of the early universe is the cosmic microwave background radiation—the “three degree” (actually 2.728 K) background radiation—discovered in 1965 by American physicists Arno A. Penzias and Robert W. Wilson.

In addition to accounting for the presence of ordinary matter and radiation, the model predicts that the present universe should also be filled with neutrinos, fundamental particles with no mass or electric charge. The possibility exists that other relics from the early universe may eventually be discovered.